The Characteristics Of False Teachers Series

And so, false teachers are insubordinate.

III. False Teachers Are Irreverent (8d-10)

And third, false teachers are irreverent.

Jude said in verse 8d-10, “Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, . . . blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’ But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.”

False teachers are not only immoral and insubordinate; they are also irreverent. Jude said that they blaspheme the glorious ones. That is, they even blaspheme the angelic beings.

Jude highlighted the irreverence of the false teachers by comparing them with the archangel Michael. As God’s most powerful angel, Michael did not demonstrate irreverence while contending with the devil and was disputing about the body of Moses. Michael knew that God could give him victory over Satan. Yet he also knew that he was not to presume upon God and act beyond his authority. Out of respect for Satan’s status and power as the highest created being, Michael did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment as if he possessed ungranted power over Satan. He simply said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

Interestingly, this is the only place where Scripture mentions this incident between Michael and Satan regarding the body of Moses. The Old Testament is silent on the matter. We simply read in Deuteronomy 34:5-6, “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.”

Apparently, God did not want anyone somehow to preserve Moses’ body and venerate it—like the Roman Catholic Church does with all of its relics today. So God gave Michael the responsibility of burying the body of Moses where no one—including Satan—could find it.

False teachers, however, exercise no such restraint but pretend to have personal power over Satan and angelic beings.

Jude said that these people (the false teachers) blaspheme all that they do not understand. Consequently, they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

And so, false teachers are irreverent.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to touch on a topic briefly that Jude has mentioned for the second time in his letter. And that is the topic of angels.

Do you know how many angels there are? The Bible says that there are myriads (Deuteronomy 33:2), which means that their number is countless. Angels have been created to serve God in classes, orders, and ranks. For example, Michael is one of the chief princes (Daniel 10:13; 12:1); others are cherubim (Genesis 3:24) and seraphs (Isaiah 6:2). Together the angels form powerful armies that oppose Satan’s forces (Psalm 103:20; Matthew 26:53; Revelation 12:7).